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Red Faction II Review - Xbox

It is the 22nd Century. The world of genetic engineering has advanced to the point where humans are able to be bred into dangerous nano-soldiers. Stealing this technology, Chancellor Victor Sopot created an army of nano-soldiers and used them to conquer the world. When they become a little too powerful for his own comfort, he turned against them, hunting them down and dispatching teams of highly trained soldiers to eliminate them. Baring a striking resemblance to Stalin and the Communist regime of yesterday, Chancellor Sopot is out to dominate the free world and you must put a stop to it.

As Alias, member of the Red Faction Rebels who have turned to free the Commonwealth, your goal of the game is basically to track down and dispose of Chancellor Sopot and those behind him. Following the in-game intro, you are trust straight into the action and that sets the pace for most of the rest of the game, which never really lets up right until the end.

Gameplay

At it's core, Red Faction II is your standard shooter, moving from level to level, completing the objectives that reveal themselves. There are also a number of hidden and extra objectives which can be completed to unlock hidden extras such as new weapons or extra options for multiplayer. Each level is interspersed with a number of well produced in-game cut scenes which lead well into the following level and keeps the storyline ticking over and evolving.

As part of an elite Red Faction squad, RF2 doesn't come across as just "you versus everything", which some games seem to suffer from. Often teammates come to your aid at certain points, following your lead and helping you dispatch enemy soldiers. The co-operative play adds a different perspective to playing alone, but the co-operative aspects are a little weak, and you never really feel like you in command of anything. While each of your team are presented as having their own unique specialities, often you are oblivious to this while actually playing and each of your team seems to just amble around largely behind the scenes.

A large number of weapons are included throughout the game, although often you will find yourself using only one or two of them most of the time, as ammunition is generally plentiful for all of the weapons. I found myself using the grenande launcher as pretty much the weapon of choice for most of the game, allowing you to blow about just about anything with one or two rockets.

Location damage is included for enemy soldiers, meaning a headshot will much more quickly dispatch a solider rather than a few body shots. So some thought needs to be put into disposing of enemies, with the amount of ammo around all of the levels, usually accuracy isn't a major concern.

What saves Red Faction II from become just a plain 3rd person shooter is the variety thrown ... (continued next page)